By Brian K Vaughan, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa & Craig Yeung (Marvel)
ISBN: 978-1-84653-408-9
The Runaways are a bunch of super-powered kids whose parents were secretly a cabal of would-be world conquerors called “The Pride”. These villains controlled Los Angeles without the citizens even knowing about it – which was why all the baddies and monsters hung around New York. After many trials and tribulations – including the loss of some of the original kids – the young absconders overthrew their progenitors, with the unwelcome result that LA has become an easy target for ambitious costumed ne’er-do-wells.
Placed with social services, the surviving runaways and a few new recruits took to the streets again, preferring life together and driven to protect the city they unwittingly endangered.
The underlying premise of this series is that adults can’t really be trusted, only your friends and comrades, and this volume (collecting volume 2, issues #7-12 of the monthly comic-book) weaves two plot strands together with engaging dexterity to illustrate the point, as the series finally dives head-first into the swirling chaos of full-on Marvel Universe continuity.
Karolina is the daughter of two extraterrestrials intent on conquest, but now they’re gone an alien prince lands on Earth claiming that he is the husband they arranged for her as a condition of truce between their warring civilisations…
When they were fighting their parents one of the few super-heroes to befriend the kids was the teleporting mutant Cloak, and when he’s accused of attempting to murder his symbiotic partner Dagger, the kids zip off to the Big Apple to clear his name, encountering such obstructive and overbearing luminaries as Captain America, Iron Man Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Wolverine as well as the skeevy New York underclass who are their East Coast counterparts…
Whereas I’m certainly more comfortable with the direction taken here, I acknowledge that some readers drawn in by the stylistic similarities to teen-oriented TV soap-operas might miss the angsty traumas and conflicts that have of necessity been down-played to make room for extra-fights and chases. It’s still wonderfully scripted though, very witty and dry with laughs and tension held in perfect balance.
Escape to New York is the best volume yet and Runaways is still a great “outreach” title to get new readers into comics. If you’re already a fan you might think of it as the ideal gift for that stubborn hold-out or perhaps your kids if they think you’re a bit weird to still be getting your jollies from printed matter…
© 2005, 2006, 2008 Marvel Characters Inc. All Rights Reserved. A BRITISH EDITION RELEASED BY PANINI UK LTD